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“With me being a Newcastle fan, that’s going to be a highlight,” Novak said.

“I’ve actually never played there as well. When I played in the Championship, they were in the Premier League.

“It will be a big occasion if I’m picked and selected to play there. Sunderland are a massive team and they are going to be the big scalp that everyone wants to take. We have to go there, implement our game and do what we work on all week.”

Novak got off the mark by scoring against Walsall last weekend and has also been made captain for the last two games.

The 29-year-old has been deployed as the lone striker so far and at times, particularly on Tuesday, has cut an isolated figure on his own up front.

But for Novak he is just happy to be playing again, after missing bits of last season with a niggling injury.

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“It’s been brilliant to be captain,” he continued. “I was captain in one of the pre-season games but the gaffer pulled me before the Coventry game and said I was going to be captain in Rory’s (McArdle’s) absence.

“It’s obviously a big thing and I’m enjoying it. I think I’m the oldest one playing at 29 so I feel a bit like the elder statesman! But hopefully I’ll keep the armband as long as Rory’s not in the team – and when Rory comes in, he’s our captain, he’s our main man and it’s a pleasure to be standing in for him.

“I’m just enjoying playing again. Obviously I missed a lot of the season last year so I’m just enjoying being back and obviously scoring as well.”

After two top six finishes, Novak will be hoping for more of the same this time around but it will take time for the side to gel after so many new arrivals.

However, he believes the team will start to improve once they get used to each other.

“We have brought so many new players in and obviously we have lost a lot of talent, but the talent that has come in has been second to none – and I think you can see that from the first two games and some of the pre-season games.

“As you keep playing together, you are only going to get better each game – hopefully we do that and we keep on improving.

“It would be tough for any team in this league – even in the league above – to lose such players, given how important they were to us. They were our main guys last year.

“But big clubs are going to come and they want those good players. That’s what they deserve – they deserve to go and play higher.

“But the lads who have come in have been brilliant as well and, yes, they might go on and do the same thing but we want to improve as a team and we want to go that next level with these guys.”

“It’s not always that easy (going for the top six) because a lot of teams want the same thing – but why can’t we do that again with the talent that we have brought in and the talent that we have kept?”